Today the TR3A in a bag has given up it's Delorian garb (sans paint) and is
officially "lemon Yellow" (hopefully not prophetic).
Used MSA acrylic enamel from NAPA, and a gravity feed HVLP gun attached to my
air compressor; 110 psi down a 25 foot hose and 18 psi into the gun.
Moisture separator at the compressor and disposable final moisture
separator/filter at the gun.
Applied a coat of sealer (adhesion promoter) over the high build primer.
Then followed up with about three coats of the enamel. Used standard
reducer, hardener, and fisheye eliminator. There were NO fisheyes; amazing
considering this environment - well worth the extra $. Used virtually an
entire gallon of paint, and could have used a second if I chose to paint all
the interior and underside of the tub. For a rookie, the paint went on very
well and dried fairly quickly to a very smooth hard finish (it feels and
looks like it's already waxed!!).
Painted it in parts (all body parts removed), and saved some paint for post
assembly touch up and repairs. The only drawback of this approach was
placing the parts out in the yard for final drying. It's amazing how many
bugs (not to mention birds) are attracted to yellow. Oh well, that will be
part of the "repair work."
Overall, I'm VERY pleased with how user friendly this paint was and how well
it came out (especially keeping in mind that I haven't done this sort of
thing in about 33 yrs). Just to be on the safe side, I'll let the paint
harden up over the next few weeks before I attempt any assembly. This may be
the toughest part of the restoration.
Bill Babbitt
TR3A in a bag
Gales Ferry, Ct
|